Skopje, 16 January 2022 (MIA) – North Macedonia’s Members of Parliament with 62 votes in favor, 46 against and with no abstentions late on Sunday elected the new government with Dimitar Kovachevski as the Prime Minister.

The new cabinet, comprised of 21 members, will have one more minister than the previous one, namely a minister without portfolio for the diaspora - a post that goes to a member of the Alternativa party, the new junior government coalition partner.

The current Minister of Justice Bojan Marichikj of SDSM will be Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs. Slavjanka Petrovska of SDSM will be Minister of Defense. Bekim Sali from Alternativa will head the Ministry of Health. The current Minister of Information Society and Administration Jeton Shaqiri of DUI will take over the Ministry of Education and Science. Jovana Trenchevska of SDSM will be Minister of Labor and Social Policy, and Bisera Kostadinovska Stojchevska of SDSM will take over the Ministry of Culture.

Admirim Aliti from Alternativa will be Minister of Information Society and Administration, and Xhemail Cupi from Alternativa is appointed minister without portfolio in charge of the diaspora.

In Kovachevski’s new government, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs remains to be Fatmir Bytyqi of SDSM, and Slavica Grkovska of SDSM will be Deputy Prime Minister for Fighting Corruption and Crime.

Nilkola Tupanchevski (SDSM) will be at the helm of the Ministry of Justice. Current Minister Oliver Spasovski (SDSM) remains in the Ministry of Interior.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Bujar Osmani (DUI), Minister of Transport and Communications Blagoj Bochvarski (SDSM), Minister of Finance Fatmir Besimi (DUI) and Minister of Economy Kreshnik Bekteshi (DUI) also remain in the government.

Goran Milevski of LDP in the SDSM coalition remains at the helm of the Ministry of Local Self-Government. The Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning, as well, is to continue with current Minister Naser Nuredini (DUI) at the helm.

Artan Grubi (DUI) also remains to be Minister of Political System and Inter-Community Relations, and Ljupcho Nikolovski (SDSM) will still be Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy.

Eight current members are leaving the government, including Prime Minister Zoran Zaev.

Nikola Dimitrov will no longer be Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs. Radmila Shekerinska will not be at the helm of the Ministry of Defense. Also leaving their ministerial posts are Minister of Health Venko Filipche, Minister of Education and Science Mila Carovska, Minister of Labor and Social Policy Jagoda Shahpaska, and Minister of Culture Irena Stefoska.

Kovachevski presenting the new government agenda in Parliament announced a boost in the country’s minimum wage, which he said would contribute to an increase in the average income.

The new government’s policies will also focus on reducing the unemployment rate, which is projected to reach 11.4 percent in 2024 and 8.6 percent by the end of 2026, he added.

Kovachevski said the new government would increase retirees’ pension checks, as well.

In his speech before lawmakers, he said the new government had a clear and feasible plan to face the economic and energy crisis and deal with the negative consequences.

“Facing the effects of the pandemic and the energy crisis remains the main challenge in the economy,” Kovachevski said, adding that the new government would intervene by supporting the population and the economy.

“The Government will implement a strategy that in the short, medium and long term will ensure secure energy supply and a sustainable energy system. The focus will be on renewable energy sources and the efficient use of available natural resources,” he said.

Talks with Bulgaria will continue, but no one may or will dispute the identity and language of the Macedonian people, the newly-elected PM said in his speech before lawmakers over the weekend.

“We have achieved our decades-long strategic goal of NATO membership and provided peace, stability, and a secure future for our children,” he noted.

“But on the road to the EU we face challenges that the two governments of North Macedonia and Bulgaria are determined to solve through dialogue and cooperation.

“Macedonian and Bulgarian citizens are more interested in the economy; cultural, educational and youth exchanges; and road infrastructure. These are the issues we need to cooperate much more on. History belongs to historians, but our identity issues are the foundations of our nation and our state.

“The Government has no dilemmas: No one may and no one will debate on the identity of the Macedonian people or the historically and scientifically confirmed specificity and uniqueness of the Macedonian language.”

The SDSM leader also said North Macedonia would continue its good neighborly politics, strengthening cooperation with all neighboring countries.

In the parliamentary debate that followed, the opposition completely disagreed with the ruling coalition, with lawmakers clashing views on the legitimacy and the competence of the new cabinet members.

For the opposition, the new government would continue in the previous one’s steps and the new ministers would not be able to deal with any challenges.

“This Kovachevski government is a continuation of the corrupt Zaev government, which citizens punished in the elections. A government causing economic devastation, constant price hikes, job losses, and the economy tanking,” VMRO-DPMNE’s Aleksandar Nikoloski said.

Additionally, opposition MPs said the government wouldn’t be politically legitimate, both because the PM-designate didn’t run in any elections and because the ruling coalition lost the local elections.

Unlike the opposition, lawmakers from the ruling coalition said the new government ministers would maintain the positive course set by the previous government. Their legitimacy, they stressed, had been decided by the citizens in the 2020 parliamentary election. mr/ba/